ColinB

On the renumbered Mallard, I did at one point think about buying a new tender bottom as they are quite cheap, and removing the ringfield body. Trouble was the existing tender top doesn't fit properly. Anyway, as someone said it does add more weight and means the tender pickups work properly. Trouble I have lately is I add sound to a loco, generally when I can afford it, but I can never remember quite how I did it. Plus if I have decided to replace the tender bottom with a updated one, by the time I have finished it looks like that was the original fit. Like the Tornedo, initially I fitted it in the loco, then realised it ran like a dog without tender pickups so I added them using Hornby parts, then moved everything to the tender as I had to make the connection to the loco anyway.

I must admit when mine broke I threw it away, the whole lot went brittle. I think you are meant to use resistance wire (I don't know if they still make it). I don't know if they used that in the past as fuse wire, but modern fuse wire has very little resistance.

The only time that has happened to me was when I fitted a gaugemaster decoder into a GWR pannier tank with the old scalextric motor. Basically those motors can take up to 0.8 amps which the gaugemaster decoder cannot source. In your case there is no such issue. It could be that the socket has an individual socket that is broken internally so when you push the header in it feels tight because the other 7 pins are. As I said with mine I replaced the socket and got Hornby to replace the one I used, but in your case a return is your best bet. Perhaps there is something wrong with the motor and it is drawing excess current. You would never notice on DC unless you measured it.

Looking at the original post, it has got to be the newer type. The old ringfield motor based ones have so much room in them you could nearly fit the round speaker. I suspect it is the one just before Hornby moved the DCC socket to the tender. It might be like my renumbered Railroad A4 which is loco driven but has the tender full of the ringfield drive without the armature. Either way, it is either fit a sugar cube speaker in the smokebox or buy the later tender bottom and rewire the socket so it is now in the tender, assuming it is not the Railroad version with the dummy ringfield motor in it.

I think the colour of the wire is very variable, sometimes they use red and black, sometimes just black, on some it is grey. From their point of view if they use one colour then it is cheaper (better price per reel) and less wastage. The last loco I bought I noticed they were using much better sockets where it is less likely that you will get solder splashes across tracks.Trouble is, all the replacements sold by "Peters Spares" etc. are the old type.

When ever I look at the Rails website they have very little Hornby, but I got the same mail. People are right it depends who you get on the end of the phone for advise. I once got a DC Concepts decoder off of Hattons, it was one with a connector. No way could I get this connector to fit. Phoned up Hattons and they didn't really know, phoned up DC Concepts and it appeared it was a mis package they had put the wrong lead in. They sorted it immediately, I was very impressed. As for the couplings I found the Hunt magnetic ones were very good, the only issue being they clip into the NEM pocket and have a habit of falling out.

You have definitely done in the downways and across ways directions. You should only get a reading between pins one and 5. The only other thing to check which happened with mine, is the DCC decoder header pins are ever so slightly thinner than the the DC header pins, with mine the DCC decoder header wasn't connecting properly with the the socket. Make sure it is pressed fully home. Don't do it while it is connected to the DCC. If not that, then I am sorry but it is a return to Hattons.

Yes, my post is not that clear, I wasn't sure what sort you had. Pull out the header from the 8 pin DCC socket that is screwed to the loco. Now measure the resistance between pins on the socket. I suspect either pin 1 or pin 5 will be connected to pin 4 or 8 or to the track. It is either that they wired up the socket wrong or there is a very fine solder link between the pins. If you do find a connection between the pins, unscrew the DCC scocket, turn it over and scrape down the gaps between pads on the socket with a thin bladed screwdriver. Unless it is an obvious blob of misplaced solder, then it is probably a hairline piece than you cannot see, scraping should remove it. I bought the blue BR King and I remember I had issues with the socket. I suspect yours is a later model, but Hornby do have history of miswiring this socket. Not that it helps you but I have noticed on their later locos, that they are using better sockets.

From what you mention it sounds like that there is a fault with the 8 pin DCC socket wiring. I hate to say it but you may well be blowing up the decoders as you are fitting them. I am assuming it is a modern loco which should consume less than 500 milliamps. If by chance it is a second hand loco bought off Hattons and it is an old loco converted for DCC, then possibly the decoders cannot source enough current and are current limiting. I will assume it is a modern type loco, in which case you need to take the header out of the DCC socket and check continuity between pins with a multimeter. You should only get a reading between pins 1 and 5, the rest should be either give a high resistance vale of open circuit. If pins 1 or 5 are connected to track (pins 4 and 8) with the header removed, then that is your issue. If by chance it is a converted old loco, then buy a Zimo or Train O Matic decoder, they have a higher current limit.

I think someone is a bit confused here. The post says (well the one I read) said that the Retailer failed to fill the order that they had paid a full deposit for, but later on the same Retailer offers the loco that they supposedly could not get, for two and a half times the original selling price. I think I would be a bit upset too.

I have noticed them doing this sort of thing in the past, mainly with hard to get models. I saw their advert on EBay yesterday and was surprised that a supposedlty reputable Dealer would do this ( I had just seen the review by Jenny Kirk and wanted to see how much they actually sold for). Today I got the same flyer, that definitely put me off buying anything else off them. I didn't know they took the full cost up front, that is also bad. That means my blue Merchant Navy that I ordered in 2018/2019 (can't remember it was so long ago) , they would have held nearly £200 for over 2 years. Why do it, it is an extra £400, they didn't have many so possibly £1200 in all, is it worth it to lose all your other orders and possible agro from Hornby. Hattons and Rails don't charge until it is actually sent, Bure Valley who I ordered off yesterday, it appears phones you up for payment once it is in stock. I am having issues with one Model Shop that took a deposit for two Stephenson Rocket trucks that never appeared and also doesn't respond to emails. What is wrong with these people don't they know bad news travels quickly around the internet.

At the moment I would imagine getting rid of them would be difficult. The last lot along with my Classic Bike mags I gave to the Brompton Hospital when my son was having treatment there.

I think they did do a Schools class years ago, but not a current one. I do seriously wonder how many on that list they actually mean to support. The Britannia one is on the list but a Dealer has just mailed me to say Hornby are discontinuing it. So perhaps some of the items are as I call them, vapour ware.

I bought my new catalogue from Tescos. It appears that the DCC decoders are a merge of the 2019 ones and 2020 ones, whether they support the whole list we will have to wait and see. The other funny thing is in the new catalogue there are a few locos that Retailers were selling off last year cheap as they were out of date. One example is the class 87 "Winston Churchill", I got it about 30% off because it was end of range, but it is in the new catalogue.

I don't know about the locos but the uncoupling of wagons at random intervals is not entirely Hornby's fault. The trouble with the NEM couplings (the new couplings) is that they seem to do that, Hornby I assume just fits them, as that is what they are required to do by all the reviewers. The old Triang type ones although a bit "cluncky" seem to work tons better. The NEW ones either uncouple themselves, normally when the trucks get a bit of momentum and the loco slows down, or have the habit of pulling out completely. Bachmann carriages seem to be even worse at uncoupling.

As I said earlier, I found that even swapping the axles around causes issues. I did find the 4 wheeled bogies seemed to work better than the 6 wheeled ones. On HSTs I found even with the right traction tyres slipping was still an issue, probably because there is virtually no weight directly over the bogie and by its design the bogie is pushing the rest of the loco making the front tend to bear up. It seems unless you go for the setup as per Bachmann diesels or Hornby Class 50/33 mechanisms, you seem to always need traction tyres. Similarly with Hornby 4-4-0 locos, they always seem to need traction tyres.

Thanks RAF96. I must admit I would have thought that they would have added extra ones for their new locos and dropped a few off the list (as they did with 2019 to 2020), although the "Hush Hush" might be a bit difficult The good news is hopefully they will replenish the ones in the list you currently can no longer get. I have just checked with my 2020 catalogue, there appears to be 4 more. I am braving the virus today to go to Tesco for shopping so hopefully I will pick up a new catalogue.

I must admit I would be surprised if they run better unless you have a ton of weight in them. I have been converting a lot of my old Lima locos to current Hornby Railroader specification, replacing the ringfield type motor based bogie with the class 66 type. I found that the class 47 I converted was ever so critical of placement of traction tyres (I normally put the tyres on different sides so the back one is on the left, the front one on the right), but on this loco they had to be on the same side. If you want to do it then just look up wheels for the dummy bogie. A Bachmann class 66 at the moment is not much more than a Hornby one, as Hattons have reduced their one, that is a much better bet. We all know how well the loco runs when it shreds a traction tyre.

I have just put in an order for a diecast Merchant Navy (to replace my Wrenns that I don't want to modify for DCC) and the release date for that is late spring early summer, so perhaps this is the year. I suspect seeing as they are trying to push the Dublo range, they might in this case meet their timescale. If they decide to, it is funny that they can push products out quite fast, as has been demonstrated by a few examples recently.

Anyone know if Hornby are adding any new TTS decoders to their range for 2021? I have searched the 2021 product data, but there is no mention. I haven't got to Tesco yet to pick up the new catalogue, to see what is listed in the new catalogue. So I wondered if someone has?

Trouble with Windows emulators they don't always work that well with the comms ports, which is critical for the Elite update. Be interesting to find out if anyone has attempted it and had success.

That is really bad news sx, when I was putting in some advanced orders for products in their 2021 catalogue I did keep wondering if I would ever get the loco. I then resigned myself to if I don't then does it really matter. I seen this a lot of times in my life where a company treats the customer like dirt and then cannot understand it when the market changes, why they are not doing so well. I used to like dealing with "Rails" as they never let me down and the other large retailer I am not so confident with. Sadly, Rails no longer deal with Hornby, I wonder if they were worried about devalueing their reputation. Unfortunately, the smaller model shops are right at the end of of the pecking order for new releases.

I cannot believe than this website is so bad. Ok you could explain last week it being bad, but this has been going on for ages. Website administration is something that generally is something that can be done remotely so you can't even blame it on Covid. Ok, it doesn't really matter if someone cannot get into the forums, or look at Service Sheets but this is also the site where people buy things so at least that part should work reliably. Even when the website is lightly loaded it is problematic.

Normally, it is easier to throw the Hornby speaker away and buy a small "sugar cube" speaker to fit under the smokebox. If I remember rightly, there is a reasonable amount of room there. Normally what I do with mine, is go look at the "youChoos" site at speakers (I say "YouChoos" because they have a large range of speakers with sizes) and from that figure what size one will fit. If your tender has pickups, then it is sometimes easier to move the DCC socket to the tender as RAF96 stated, but if you don't have tender pickups and you don't intend fitting them, then it is probably not worth the effort.

I hate to say this but the Blue Merchant Navy was promised for last year and the previous year, so how do you know it will actually appear this year? They are producing some different ones so possibly this might be the year, but I wouldn't hold my breath. As to pre orders, I think we all know by now, the saga of the Stephenson Rocket trucks, I am still waiting for two to appear from a Retailer, worse still I paid a deposit on them (won't be doing that again). I assume the Retailer may have been promised more, hence the wait. If Hornby were not Hornby, do you honestly think that they would survive in the big wide world. I did eventually, get my Stephenson Rocket truck off the Hornby website, which I thought was a bit bizarre as at the same time they were telling their Retailers that they couldn't have them. I ordered my Hush Hush off the Hornby website as again they were offering pre orders for them where Hattons were saying that they were "sold out" on pre order, again how can that happen. I come from the software community where the term "vapour wear" is commonly used (means promised but never ever materialises), sadly some of the items in the catalogue are guilty of this.